View full sizeT.J. Hamilton | The Grand Rapids PressThe Grand Rapids Board of Education at Monday's meeting.There is no more challenging — and probably no more thankless — task than serving on a local school board. That is especially true today, as districts struggle to remain vital, even viable, in the face of the state’s budget reductions.

In the face of these difficulties, five candidates have arisen to run for the Grand Rapids Board of Education. The group is vying for two slots. All recognize the serious issues facing the district and the need to find creative solutions to those problems. They are running for four-year terms.

We recommend retired educator MAUREEN QUINN SLADE and current board member AMY McGLYNN as the best picks for the schools and the city.

Ms. Slade worked for 21 years in the Grand Rapids schools, first as a special education teacher, and finally as assistant superintendent for special education. She left the district in 1993 and became an assistant superintendent and deputy superintendent at the intermediate school district in Kalamazoo.

During her time in Grand Rapids, she worked in labor negotiations on the management side. That gives her a valuable perspective, since contract disputes are going to be an ongoing issue in Grand Rapids and other districts.

Ms. Slade recognizes that continued concessions on health care costs will be important as the district struggles to get a handle on the budget and faces a financial shortfall next year that could approach $15 million. Ms. Slade recognizes, too, that labor-management relations have been too tense in Grand Rapids. As a former teacher and a former administrator, she could serve as a valuable bridge.

Ms. McGlynn has served on the board since 2000. She was president in 2006 when the board hired current Superintendent Bernard Taylor. Ms. McGlynn has been an engaged and conscientious board member. She is generally supportive of Mr. Taylor’s efforts to take the district in innovative directions, including private-public partnerships that are now a unique feature of the local public schools. Ms. McGlynn is especially focused on districtwide curriculum, and her knowledge there is a benefit to the board. She is a stay-at-home mother with children in the district.

The other candidates are current board member Harry Campbell, real estate appraiser Jon O’Connor and Roger McClary, who is unemployed.

Mr. Campbell, who has served four years on the board, is clearly a passionate advocate of the schools. As a parent with children in the district, he is more than a disinterested observer. Mr. Campbell works as a sports consultant who helps run recreational youth leagues.

Our recommendation against his re-election rests not on his performance on the board, but on his absence from it. In 2009 and 2010, Mr. Campbell missed 17 of 45 special and regular board meetings. That is an absentee rate of nearly 40 percent — too high for school and too high for the school board.

Mr. O’Connor is an intriguing candidate and somebody we’d like to see remain involved in public service. He is president of the West Grand Neighborhood Association. His advocacy for the district rises directly out of his concern for the health of the city, something he sees first-hand as a real estate appraiser. He is a supporter of merit pay for teachers, a worthy idea, and of doing everything possible to
retain students and families in the district.

Mr. McClary is a past candidate for Kent County Commission, state Legislature and the Grand Rapids Board of Library Commissioners. He advocates greater input from the community in major board decisions, school closings in particular.